Tadhamon bank suspends its activities at the main center in Sana'a after the kidnapping of its employees

The Tadhamon International Islamic Bank has decided to suspend its activities at the main center and close all its branches in Sanaa after being subjected to a series of extortion and harassment practices by the Al-Houthi authorities, sources of Al-Masdar online said.

A bank source said that many banks will take the same step as the Houthis insist on looting the assets of banks and commercial banks operating in their areas of control under various pretexts, and this will result in the release of thousands of employees working in the banking sector, which will multiply the challenges facing the Financial activity and would create additional economic burdens.

The move follows the abduction of officials of the Islamic Tadhamon Bank and Alkuraimi Bank by the authorities of the coup militias in Sana'a and their escort to the National Security Bureau under the authority of the putschists.

Al-Masdar online was informed that Yusuf Zabara, the secretary of the central bank (the Houthi-controlled version in Sana'a), participated in questioning the banking personnel within the national security apparatus, and that the kidnapping of the staff was based on instructions from the same bank used by the group as a stick to extort and loot banks operating in Areas of control.

Mohammad Hussain Al-Baidhani, a general manager of Saba Islamic Bank, is still being held in the National Security Bureau of the Houthis after he was kidnapped on Saturday and taken there, the source said.

The banks, whose main centers are located in Sana'a, suffer from complex problems, as a result of militia practices, notably preventing banks from using their funds deposited as a legal reserve in the central bank of Sana'a.

Houthi militias also charge banks to pay up to 30 percent of the profits, under a number of titles, including a "supporting waring effort."